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CARPET & UPHOLSTERY
Astro-Clean offers complete residential and commercial carpet and upholstery cleaning service in Northeast Ohio. From homes and offices to cars, RVs and Boats. Astro-Clean can clean it all.
WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF STEAM CLEANING?
The process we use in steam cleaning. Our system is a truck mounted steam cleaning system which has many advantages over other processes. This is the type of cleaning that 94% of carpet cleaners in the U.S. use because it is the most powerful, flushes out the mot soilage, and leaves the least detergent residue behind. There are cleaning methods still used in this industry that will leave as much as 80% more residue than truck mounted steam cleaning. Using any method which leaves high amounts of residue behind will always cause a premature recoiling situation. These residues also may cause premature color loss to the dye sites of today’s textiles.
HOW LONG DO I HAVE TO WAIT BEFORE I CAN WALK ON THE CARPET?
Depending on the type of carpet you have synthetic fiber vs. wool etc. and also depending on pile height; your carpet will more likely take about 12 to 24 hours to dry. During this time, it is perfectly fine for you to walk on the carpet. The main thing is that you only walk on the freshly cleaned carpet with clean feet until it has thoroughly dried. It is best for the first 24 hours to go bare footed, slippers, or shoes that you are sure have a clean sole. Keep in mind that if you took a dirty shoe and brushed a wet rag across the shoe the dirt from the shoe would transfer in to the rag. The same thing will happen to your carpet until it dries.
Another thing to keep in mind after your carpet has been cleaned. When we are done moving furniture around we replace it and place clear plastic protectors under the furniture legs or blue high density blocks under the bottom of soil based furnishings. If these furnishings are slightly out of place, please wait 24 hours before removing these protectors and rearranging any furniture.
DO CARPETS REALLY GET DIRTY FASTER AFTER HAVING THEM CLEANED FOR THE FIRST TIME?
This was a common reality years ago before technological advancements that have taken place in both equipment and chemistry. Before steam cleaning was standard, many cleaners used Shampoo, Dry Foam, or Bonnet cleaning methods. All of these methods use a high concentrate of detergent to water ratio that is metered directly to the carpet. All three of these methods also range between 1% to 15% recovery rates of solution used. Bottom line most of the soil is still in the carpet as well as thee addition of detergent residues. These detergent contaminants don’t show when the carpet is cleaned but as soon as humidity is present they act as hydroponics absorbing moisture from the air and creating a tacky surface on top of the carpet. This in conjunction with the soil that was never removed in the first place creates a rapid re-soiling condition.
Today 94% of all cleaners in the U.S. are using steam or hot water extraction cleaning. One of the major advantages of these 2 methods is that they use very low concentrate of detergent to water ration. With Steam Cleaning the recovery rate is between 90% to 95% and Hot Water Extraction 50% to 55%, this is due to the ability to recover more of a vapor than a liquid. The higher recovery rates of these methods translate to greater soil removal. With these methods you have enough detergent through the fiber to achieve a high cleaning standard while always moving the solution metered directly to the carpet in a very dilute state. With extremely low levels of detergent residues and higher recovery rates, the carpet doesn’t re-attract soil at the same rate.
After cleaning carpets re-soiling rates can also be brought back to near original by re-applying a protective coating to the carpet. Carpets cleaned with a low residue cleaning method also experience better protective coating results as the coating is being applied to clean fiber instead of applied to detergent residues adhered to the fiber.
There is another reason why some carpets will re-soil faster than original, even they have been cleaned with a low residue cleaning method. This is known as big glass – little glass theory. If you have a 20oz. and a 10oz. glass and you put 10oz of liquid in both glasses. One glass is full and one is 1/2 full. If you have a carpet that is new vs. a carpet that is 1/2 worn out, the same amount of soil in both carpets will fill the fiber of one and only 1/2 fill the fiber of the other. The carpet that is full or has reached its soil equilibrium shows dirt earlier.
WHY DO I GET BLACK LINES AROUND THE PERIMETER OF THE ROOM?
These are called air filtration lines. These lines form due to soot escaping heating systems in the colder months of the year. When this warm air escapes it rises in the dwelling. Some of the air is attracted to wall, curtains and furnishings and clings until excessive upon which it falls down the wall and accumulates at the edges of the room and around perimeters of furniture. Some of this air takes the fast route to higher altitude. It finds draft channels inside walls and as the warm air climbs to the upper parts of the building until with no where to go it escapes between wall and floor cavities. Where the air escapes is the same place the rug is tucked between the wall and the tactless. As the air escapes it sifts past the carpet fibers and the fibers of the rug act as an air filter. The air that rises is filtered clean and the contaminants that were in the air are left behind in the carpet fibers. The accumulation of this soil from top and bottom create the black lines that build up around the perimeter.
DO YOU MOVE FURNITURE?
Our protocol is to move whatever our customers desire to have moved that is reasonable and humanly possible. What we do ask of our customers is some common courtesy. If you wish to have your dressers and tables moved we need these furnishings to be prepared. This means all breakables, lamps, books, etc. moved off top surfaces of furnishings to be moved. We make time to move furniture but we don’t have time to be house keepers as well. If you would like under the beds done, please remove all stored items from underneath bed. If you need a china cabinet moved and it’s not a piece that would require a four man crew to move, we will do it as long as it is emptied. Usually we go around a piece like this or if it has legs we go under it. Please remove all stored items from underneath. Pianos, Grandfather clocks, wall units, and glass tables we do not move.
For additional questions, please contact us at 330-638-1614.